About Project 680

Project 680 is a grassroots team effort led by local residents to do something about the problem of student homelessness. This all started with a sock drive in December 2008. After learning of the “680″ homeless students from the FCUSD Liaison for Homeless Services, and that having new socks were a need among these students, it became our goal to collect 680 pairs of socks. Well, we were overwhelmed with generosity from the community and we saw 3,144 pairs of socks come in (on a similar note, a future underwear drive then saw 3,198 pairs of underwear). Local residents, neighborhoods, organizations, churches, and businesses all teamed up to make this happen.

The drives we have done have been successful thus far because it’s been easy to get involved and easy to see that such a basic need was important for local students. Our communities in Folsom & Rancho Cordova have a big heart for local kids and they respond generously when hearing about what local students need.

Watch this video on the need Watch this video on the need for shoes

Project 680 operation has been absorbed by Soroptimist Int'l of Rancho Cordova/Gold River (Federal EIN is 27-0598800) and accepts tax deductible donations.

WHO IS BEHIND THIS EFFORT  People like you. Also, various neighborhood leaders throughout Rancho Cordova and Folsom and local organizations/businesses have volunteered to tap into their networks, be a drop-off location, or tell others about this project. This project is being spearheaded by the Project 680 team, which is comprised of an array of folks from the community. This effort belongs to all of us.

DID YOU KNOW  that the Folsom Cordova Unified School District had 742 documented cases of “homeless” students in the 2020-21 school year? Can you believe that? It’s hard to grasp that so many local kids are struggling with something as basic as a stable place to live. This is not happening in some random city either, but in our own backyard.

FINDING PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS  Project 680 is all about discovering practical ways to support local students. We are not looking to create enormous and time-consuming programs either. We emphasize projects that are easy to pull off and also make sense for everyone. We continually keeping our eyes and ears open for what local students need and then we do something about it by getting the community involved.